Process of making cork disks



R. w. BOOTH I PROCESS FOR MAKING CORK DISKS Filed Jan. 17. 1923 flaw/14300277 I mvzmon ATTORNEY Patented July 1, 1924.

RALPH w. BOOTH, or BROOKLYN, NEW YORK? l rnocnss or MAKING coRK nIsK's.

Application filed January 17, 1923. Serial at. 613,275.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, RALPH W. Boone, a citizen of the United States, andresiding at1198 Pacific Street, Brooklyn, New York, have invented a newand useful Improve ment in Processes for Making Cork Disks, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to the manufacturing of cork disks for closuresof bottles and has, for its main object to provide means whereby therotating knives which are mainly used for cutting such disks will. beautomac-tially .cooled and lubricated, while the operation is going on.

Another object of the invention is to prevent .thetearing of the corkmaterial which usually accompanies the present methods of cuttingsuchdisks.

Still another object of this invention is to providemeans' to lubricatethe disks, the metal crowns anclthe assembled crown corks in; thefurtheroperations of their prepara-' tl0I113I1dtO. aid in the sealing ofthe bottles.

Incidentally my invention will help through all the mentioned operationsin. increasing the capacity and e-fliciency of the different machinesand devices used to perform said operations.

invention mainly resides in coverin the rods from. which, said disks arecut with a-thin coat of paraffin, ceresin or similar oily, fatty or wax.like materials, before the cutting operation is started.

In orderto-obtain the different advantages and objects describedhereinbefore, I take the rod of cork and dip it in a tank containingmolten paraffin, ceresin or similar materials, or coat said rod with athin layer of such materials by anyother suitable means. After the rod,is cooled, and saidcoating solidified, it is ready to'be fed into any ofthe devices or machines used to cut the. cork disks-to be used forclosures of. bottles.

One of the drawbacks and sources of trouble experienced with suchmachines and devices-is. the heating of the knives or other cuttingtools. Such machines, usually operof which are torn and uneven. 'Tlieyalso may deteriorate in many other respectson accoun'tof the ieating.My' corkrod, hav mg been previously coated with aidparaflin, ceresin orother materials,- will automatically lubricate the knives bythe:1nelting of said coating during; the. operation and thereby not 'onlyfacilitate. the cutting oration but also prevent an excessive] rise,

of temperature ofs'aid' knives or of tli ec, ifk. My experience withsuch op'erations.' also shows that the molten waXlike materialwillultimately cover not only the cylindrical outside surfaces offthe disksbut will-flow over the two perpendicular finishing! surf faces ofthesame toa- .depthgof'iabout a quarter of an inch from the circumferences.

of the same; I

The cork disks cut by this method will show a smooth surface and uniformsions, and will have considerably 'l essniiiiy berof torn and. unevenspecimens than those produced with. the present methods. It; alsohas'been my experience that such disksfwill be easier to handle in the.automatic ma chines and devices which. areusedfor. pre paring andassemblingthe. crown corks. The machlne which puts the cork into;the'crown willhavean increased capacity of about 20%. to. 25%. The.reason for such 'anin; crease in: capacity and" for the generally im;proved facility in handling andrunning the machines is in thelubricatiQIL- of. the cork disks. Also the metal. crowns themeselvesspassing through the machine willbe lubricated through. coming incontact with, the lubricated cork disks. Thejdisks. thus prepared arealso easier tob'e: pressed into the crownincase their dimensionsare-vary; ing, and, finally, the. closure of the bottles will be tighteron accountofithe. solidified waxy or oily coating of said crowns] andcorks. i

Ialso wantcto, remark process i for. preparing the. cork: rods-is alsoan. aid

in keeping ofi the knivesparticlesof. glue used' in the composite cork,rods, which heretofore have been one of the greatest troubles in theprocess of cuttingodisksf-of such rods and whichn'ecessitated a veryfrequent cleaning and resharpeningofsimh knives. The preparation Iuse-for .my-cork rods finally, also makes themrigid. and stifl andgreatly facilitates their handling, as

7 through a paraffin bath, but not one of such methods has provenpractical. Certain composition of cork rods, otherwise very deslrableand economical, are almost impossible to be cut into thin disks withoutpreviously having been prepared by my methods.

My invention can be used in any other similar cases where disks are tobe cut of rods of suitable materials.

Preferably, I employ the automatic mechanism disclosed in theaccompanyin drawing for carrying out my improved method. In the drawing,the numeral 10 denotes an elongated base plate from which near its rearend rises a column 11, made at 1 2 with a forwardly directed curve so asto have a horizontal portion 13 that projects forwardly above the basein substantial parallelism thereto. About midway of its height, thecolumn 11 is constructed with a' horizontally extending tubular guide14, the

greater portion of which projects forwardly to come in a positionbetween the base and horizontal portion 13. On the rearward side of thecolumn 11, this tubular guide opens into and supports a verticallyextending paraffin container 15, made with a hop per-shapedtop end 16 towhich at 17 is hinged a cap or closure 18. In alinement with the bore 19of the tubular guide, the container is provided with a circular aperture20 through which the cork rod 21 is entered, passed through the paraffinin the container and then on through the tubular guide. On its interior,the container is made with the gland housings 22 and 23 whichrespectively surround the bore 19 and aperture 20, and in these housingsare disposed the ring-shaped glands 24, made of felt or other suitablematerial and designed to permit the advancement therethrough of the corkrod 21 while preventing any serious leakage or dissipation of theparaflin when heated to a fluid. or semi-fluid state.

Paraffin fragments as 25 are dropped into the hopper and in order toreduce them to a liquid or semi-liquid state for the ready coating ofthe cork rod, I preferably employ an electric heating device 26,disposed upon the bottom 27 of the container and having circuit wires 28and 29 which are passed through said bottom but insulated therefrom asat 30 and 31, respectively. These wires 28 and 29 are connected incircuit with any suitable source of electricity,

in a manner that will be readily understood.

.1 now come to the mechanism for automatically cutting disk-shapedpieces from the paraffin coated rod and to the mechanism forautomatically stepping the cork rod along through the paraflin and thetubular guide prior to each cutting operation.

The horizontal portion 13 is provided with the vertical bearings orguides 32 in which are slidably mounted for vertical reciprocation theside members 33 of the frame 34 from which depends a housing 35containing an electric motor for driving the shaft 37 which carries acircular cutting knife 9r disk 38. The top end of the frame 34 is madewith lugs 39 for carrying a pin 40 with which the connecting rod 41 haspivotal connection at its lower end. Said connecting rod at its upperend is pivoted on an arm 42 projecting from the crank 43 at tached tothe shaft 44 rotatably mounted in the bearings 45 formed for the purposeon the upper ends of the forked frame 46 which is cast with thehorizontal portion 13. Made fast on the shaft 44 between the bearings 45is a pulley 47 adapted to receive a driving belt whereby to be drivenfrom any suitable source of power. On each rotation of the crank, theframe 34 descends to bring'the .swings the rocker arm 48 whereby tothrust the arm 49 downwardly and to cause the pawl 50 to advance .theratchet wheel 51 the distance of one tooth. The rocker arm 48 is carriedby a pivot stud 52 projecting from the horizontal portion 13, and thepawl 50 is pivoted at 53 to the arm 49 and yield ingly held to theratchet wheel by a spring 54 pinned to said arm 49 at 55. Said arm 49 isloosely mounted upon a short shaft 56, rotatably supported inbearing-lugs 57 formed on the tubular guide. A pull spring 58 whichconnects the arm 49 with the horizontal portion 13, serves to keep therounded end 59 of said arm in contact with the rocker arm forcing thelatter into position for the next swing as it follows the downwardmovement of the frame 34. The ratchet wheel 51 is fast on the shaft 56,which also carries a relatively small toothed wheel 60 that operatesthrough an opening 61 in the tubular guide to bite into and advance theparaflin coated cork rod a short distance each time the ratchet wheel isactuated.

The bore 19 of the tubular guide is preferably made somewhat larger thanthe diameter of the paraffin coated cork rod and the latter isoperatively held inthe teeth of the wheel 60 by a roller 62 whichoperates through an opening 63 cut in the tubular guide and which issupported upon a yieldable angular frame 64 having its rear end pivotedat 65 to the tubular guide and its front end mounted upon a spring wire66 depending from said tubular guide. A wing nut 67 threaded upon thespring wire serves to adjust the position of the forward end of thebracket whereby to tighten or loosen at will the pressure exerted by theroller upon the cork rod. The roller 62 is engaged on a pintl 68rotatably mounted in the arms 69 formed with the bracket 64. By means ofthis construction the cork rod is automatically advanced through thetubular guide a distance equal to the thickness of the diskshaped pieceto be cut therefrom each time the cutting knife is elevated. Afunnelshaped receptacle 7 0 is preferably fitted in the base 10 toreceive the disk-shaped pieces as they are sliced from the cork rod bythe cutting knife.

Having thus described my invention what I claim as new and want toprotect by Letters Patent is v 1. The process of cutting rods of cork orother suitable materials into comparatively thin disks, which consistsin first applying a thin coat of paraffin, ceresin or similar oily,fatty or Waxy materials to said rods and then passing said'rods throughsuitable devices for the cutting of said disks.

2. The process of preparing disks for crown corks, which consists indipping a, rod of cork into molten paraffin, ceresm or similar oily,fatty or waxy materials, cooling the coating ofsaid rod and passing saidrod, thus coated, through the usual devices for cutting the cork disks.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification this12th day of January, 1923.

RALPH W. BOOTH.

